Adamantine
by Lauren Order
Summary: Elizabeth Petersen, amateur geologist, undertakes a fateful expedition in Washington. She encounters much more than she bargained for, discovering an alternate reality from which there is no escape. It all begins with a certain mysterious doctor...
1. Prologue

**A/N: This takes place after New Moon, and before Eclipse.**

I don't know why I decided to come to Washington state, of all places. It was almost like I was asking for my life to be drastically changed. Of course, being a geologist and all, I was aware of the general proximity of the Cascade Mountains and the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire". But surprisingly enough, that's not where my life took a turn for the better. I didn't do anything exciting or noteworthy except narrowly escape my death. My name is Elizabeth Petersen. Welcome to my world.


	2. Chapter 1

I loved exploring coastal landforms. It may seem boring to you, but to me, it spoke volumes to see evidence of the earth's earlier days. This time, I found myself in the Pacific Northwest, one of the areas of the United States where precipitation is almost a daily occurrence. I carefully examined all the types of rocks, taking note when I found unique varieties of igneous and metamorphic types. I had my GPS with me, but I really wasn't paying attention to where I was. That was the first mistake. The second mistake was not even looking up to see the bear that was stalking me.

Well, I looked up. But by then it was far too late. I looked the bear straight in the eyes. That could possibly be considered my third mistake. I was thinking that this situation might be funny if it wasn't actually me who was about to get mauled.

I tried to be rational. That proved to be quite difficult as I could not even hear my own thoughts over my pounding heartbeat. There was something about making noise around bears and there was something about backing away very slowly. I had a feeling that backing away slowly was the better choice in this predicament.

With every step that I took backwards, the bear followed me. I was desperately trying not to panic, but the adrenaline began to kick in. The bear approached me even closer now, coming within 10 feet of me. It growled at me, which I assumed was bad. Very bad. I turned to run.

I heard the bear begin to charge. I thought about how no one would even know or care about my fate; I would die alone in the woods and literally become a part of nature. Fascinating for those who love science, but not so fascinating when you yourself become the experiment. I tripped and fell in my panic. This wasn't going to end well.

All of a sudden, I heard a cry of pain from the bear. I got up and turned around, only to find that there was no bear at all. I was not insane, I determined, so the bear must have run away. I wasn't the one who scared it, though. I watched as a shadow appeared, coming forth from the distant foliage.

Anything that could frighten the bear was considered bad in my book, so, understandably, I was scared beyond belief now. The figure continued to come towards me when I realized it was, in fact, a man. I was really beginning to question my sanity now.

"Are you all right?" he asked me.

No reply on my side. I couldn't form the words; for some reason, I couldn't do anything at the moment. I'd never suffered this condition before. Was I just scared?

"I'm taking that as a no. Let's see, are you still breathing? Your heart is beating? Yes, that's good to know," he said as he began examining me. I was still frozen, but for more than one reason now.

He was beyond handsome; every feature of his face seemed absolutely perfect. His eyes were a beautiful shade of gold, which went nicely with his blond hair. Besides all of this, he smelled absolutely wonderful. I decided that I was definitely not sane, which helped me to appreciate the moment more.

"All right, I guess you're in shock right now. I'll have to get you out of the woods now; it's starting to rain. Why were you even here?" he continued.

"Uh… urgh," I said. Obviously, I still could not speak a word. Why was he asking me questions? He even knew what my condition was, which surprised me, considering he wanders through the woods.

"It's all right. You can explain later." With that, he picked me up. He was very cold, I realized. Or maybe it was me who was cold. All I knew was that I was getting very tired. Did he just give me a tranquilizer or something? I couldn't tell… I drifted off to sleep in his arms.


	3. Chapter 2

I woke up from unconsciousness, not genuine sleep. The first thing I saw was his eyes. I would not have been able to focus if it hadn't been for the sedatives he gave me. Which led me to question how I got here, and more importantly, why I was taken here.

He seemed to be able to read my mind, because he immediately began explaining himself as if I was admonishing him for some wrongdoing.

"I know you're wondering who I am and why you're here," he began. "My name is Carlisle Cullen. I'm a doctor at the hospital here in Forks."

"Forks!? I'm all the way out in some hick town?" I blurted out. Yet another mistake, I realized, because this was where he lived. "No offense to you, of course," I said, trying to cover up my error.

"No, it's quite all right. Anyway, I was hiking through the woods, like I usually do on weekends, when I noticed you had been injured. I simply had to help," he continued.

I seemed to remember a slightly different account. I didn't remember actually being attacked by the bear, although I might have fallen at some point while trying to escape. I looked at him skeptically.

He could tell I wasn't buying it. "Well, there was a little bit more to the story. I chased off the bear that was coming after you. Years of experience hiking help me to deal with wildlife more effectively."

Dealing with wildlife was probably an understatement. I remembered now that he came and attacked the bear head-on. This was a wild grizzly, too. How could anyone be capable of that, besides some of those larger-than-life characters from American folk tales? I began to make a mental list of things I liked about Dr. Cullen.

One, he looks good. Two, he's a doctor, which shows that he is very successful. Three, he smells amazing. And, last but not least, four: he can attack and fend off a full-grown grizzly bear with no weapons. He sounded like an amazing guy.

"I'm sorry, but I can't possibly believe anything that you just said. It doesn't make sense," I told him.

"Now remember, you were in shock at the time. It's doubtful that you actually remembered exactly what happened." He began to sound condescending.

"Don't bother with any Jedi mind trick," I replied. "I know what I saw, and that was you knocking a bear about a mile into the woods."

He just looked at me curiously, as if I did something unexpected. Believing the truth and denying his lies was not supposed to be normal?

"It wasn't a mile…" he said after a few seconds had gone by.

What was the meaning of that? All of a sudden, I felt afraid of him. I had a pressing feeling that he was more dangerous than he let on. I looked around the room, thinking of possible escape routes.

"You're in no condition to leave yet. You suffered a rather nasty blow to the head when you fell," he said. He must have been either psychic or extremely perceptive. Or maybe my thoughts were just that obvious.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. I was not in a hospital, where "Dr." Cullen supposedly worked. It looked like I was in someone's house. I became even more frightened when I thought of the possibilities of why he took me here.

"Why… is this not a hospital?" I asked, raising my voice. I decided it couldn't hurt to attract attention.

Confusion spread over Dr. Cullen's face. He didn't seem to know the reason. Even more of a reason for me to get the heck out of here.

"Well, I don't work every day. As I said before, I was hiking today, and I needed to take you somewhere close by." More brilliant lies from the doctor.

"Well played, doctor. Except nothing you have said this entire time has been in any way logical. So, now I will ask you again, why am I here?" This was getting fun now; I could pressure someone who tossed around bears for exercise. But then again, I might get him angry, and that would not be good.

"All right, I suppose I owe you an explanation," he said, finally giving in.

He was about to begin his explanation when someone else entered the room. It was a woman this time. She was short and had spiky black hair. She came over to tell the doctor something. I couldn't overhear anything.

"I'm afraid I have to leave right now, but if you need anything, just ask anyone who's here," he said. He evaded my questions so easily.

The other person spoke up now. "My name's Alice, and I'm Carlisle's adopted daughter. I won't be able to stay here today, but Esme, Carlisle's wife, will take care of anything you want." She actually seemed friendly and outgoing instead of creepy.

"Thanks," I said. They both walked out of the room. That left me with a bit of time to think.

I decided that I would refer to Dr. Cullen as Carlisle from now on, seeing how casually he acted around me. It was strange, really, that anyone would care about me. I had no real family left except for a great-aunt who lived somewhere here in Washington. I hadn't had a social life for a few years after college. I'd only been focused on science and research. It was somewhat refreshing to meet someone who seemed to understand me.

Suddenly, a woman appeared in the doorway. It was strange, because I hadn't heard her approaching. I figured that she must be Esme. I was disappointed Carlisle had a wife, but it didn't matter anyway because I would probably never see him again after this.

"Sorry if I bothered you," she said kindly. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. You don't seem to be injured as badly as some of the people he rescues."

"He does that a lot, I guess?"

"Yes, but most of the time, they stay at the hospital." For a split second, I heard annoyance in her voice. She seemed so happy before… I didn't want to press my luck by asking her why I was here.

As it turns out, I didn't even have to prompt her to tell me.

"You know, I'm really not sure why he would do something so reckless. For all the years I've been with him, he's never done anything like this…" I could sense a rant beginning. Esme seemed like a motherly figure, and I knew that all mothers had an instinct to complain.

"This isn't about you at all, just to make sure you know that. There's a lot of things that Carlisle hasn't told you… things he can't tell you. It was a mistake for him to get you involved," she continued.

"I don't mind being involved, really. I haven't had any excitement in my life except for witnessing an eighth-of-an-inch shift in some tectonic plates," I told her.

"You will mind. What he's done this time is irreversible. I truly hope that you don't have any family, because you're not going to be able to return to them." Esme sounded bitter at this point. From what I could tell, this was a side of her that nobody except her worst enemies would ever witness. That meant I was an enemy. This was going exactly the wrong way.

"Why is he acting so strange? Nobody can tell me," she said, so quietly that I almost missed it. She then got up and left, obviously in a bad mood.

I had no idea why she expected someone to tell her the motives behind her husband's actions, but what I did know was that even if I managed to escape, I would most likely be caught again, somehow. If not by Carlisle, then definitely by Esme.

My life was finally going to get interesting. Only time would tell how that would actually happen.


	4. Chapter 3

Later that day I met the rest of his family. He had a lot of adopted children, as it turns out. It was strange how they seemed to be in couples, though. With every fact I learned about his family, I grew more and more confused.

I had met Alice earlier, but this time, I got a proper introduction. She was extremely friendly, and actually seemed to like me, which was a big difference from the welcome I got earlier from Esme.

I also met Jasper, who was apparently her significant other (at least that's what I assumed). He didn't have much to say, but he seemed comfortable to be around.

Then there were Rosalie and Emmett. Rosalie didn't seem to like that I was even there. Yet another enemy and I hadn't done anything so far. Emmett… well, he was just Emmett. How else could I describe him? He seemed kind of like a jock.

I felt like I was entering high school all over again, because Carlisle's whole family had completely different personalities. And I felt like the outcast, like always, even though I never really was. I'd always been fairly popular until I got into science. Not that any of that mattered now.

"I'm sorry that Edward isn't here right now," Carlisle said. "He is one of the more… interesting members of the family. He's out with Bella right now. I have a feeling you and Bella would get along well."

"Who's Bella?" I had to ask, even though it was obvious that I didn't know her.

"Edward's _girlfriend_, of course," Emmett said, sneering at the word and then laughing afterwards. Right now, he seemed quite annoying.

"Ok…" I still wasn't sure where any of this was going. Why didn't Carlisle just let me leave already? And why did Esme say that I couldn't leave, even if I wanted to? I'd had enough.

"This is nice and all," I continued. "But I would love to be getting back to my research now. I'm forever grateful to you for saving my life, but I don't think a bruise on my head is that detrimental to my health. Now, unless there's something more important here that you're not telling me, I'll be leaving now."

He just stared at me. I was starting to hate it when he did that.

"There is something more important. And I _will_ tell you," he whispered to me. "Just go along with this for now, and you will be glad you did."

"Are you threatening me?" I whispered back.

"I'm sorry, did it sound threatening? I honestly didn't mean to frighten you," he said. He clearly was distraught that I considered him to be a threat.

"Yes, it did. Especially combined with the fact that you're less than two inches away from my face. I consider that a little disturbing. Are you smelling me or something?" It truly seemed like he was smelling me. I headed toward the door.

He suddenly appeared out of nowhere, blocking the door. "Please, wait. I'll explain everything right now. I promise. There is a reason I brought you here in the first place."

I fell victim to his suave manner of speaking. I gave him another chance. "All right, then. Start explaining. Right now. You promised."

"I need to tell you the truth. The truth that has been haunting me since I went to the woods earlier," Carlisle began.

"Yes, so please don't hesitate to tell me what that truth is," I prompted.

"I… I'm… I really don't know how to put this. I'm no ordinary doctor." He looked at me again, his golden eyes blazing into the depths of my soul.

"That much was obvious," I said quietly.

"… And the truth is that I am in love with you. I cannot do anything to change it. I don't know why I feel this way, but I know that it's the truth." He looked away, ashamed.

I didn't feel happy. I didn't feel angry. I didn't faint. I had absolutely no reaction. It was almost as if he hadn't said anything. I think the reason for my apathy was that I had never had an experience quite like this one. I had no idea how I was supposed to react.

All I knew as I looked at his beautiful face and saw how depressed he was, was that I felt exactly the same way about him. I didn't know why, but somehow we were destined to meet.

My thoughts immediately switched to Esme and how furious she would be if she knew about this. His heart was breaking, whether I accepted his love or rejected him. I was lost and had no idea how to get out of this.

As it turns out, I didn't need to get out of it right now, because two people entered the house.

"Edward, Bella," Carlisle called out. He just winked at me and left to meet them.

Was that it? Was it a joke? How was I supposed to know what was happening?

I decided to just take it as a signal that we would finish this awkward conversation later. Lovely. In the course of a day, I met the strangest family, gained two enemies, and now had an extremely handsome admirer. I didn't think the day could get any more interesting. Again, I was wrong.


End file.
